Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh has secured $500 million in loan from the World Bank (WB) for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines and to help vaccinate its 54 million people against the coronavirus.
The WB’s Board of Executive Directors approved the financing from the International Development Association (IDA) amid sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh.
The IDA credit has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.
The additional financing to the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness Project will help Bangladesh procure safe and effective vaccines, expand vaccine storage facilities, and distribute vaccines among about 31 percent of its population, the WB said in a statement on Friday.
The funds came in support of the government’s prioritised plan of covering 40 percent of the population in the first phase of vaccination.
“Bangladesh has taken quick action to combat Covid-19 by rolling out a national vaccination program. To achieve the objectives of the program, fast and equitable access to vaccines will be important,” said Mercy Tembon, World Bank’s Country Director for Bangladesh. “This financing will help Bangladesh strengthen its national systems to ensure the prompt delivery of vaccines to one-third of its population.”
The project will continue to provide support to strengthen the national health systems to detect, prevent, and treat Covid-19 cases, as well as preparing for future health emergencies. Further, it will provide training to personnel for a successful vaccination program and strengthen the capacity of the Directorate General of Drug Administration for testing vaccines in the country.
The financing will cover the cost of deployment of the vaccines acquired through the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) for about 20 percent of the population.
For the remaining 11 percent of the population, the financing will cover direct purchase of vaccines from manufacturers or through COVAX, and the costs related to administering the vaccination. In parallel, the government is purchasing vaccines using its own resources that will cover another nine percent of the population.
“Building on Bangla-desh’s long and successful history of managing child immunization programs, the financing will play a critical role in getting those who need it most immunized against Covid-19,” said Iffat Mahmud, World Bank Senior Operations Officer and Task Team Leader for the Project. “The project will continue to support setting-up of testing laboratories and expand provision of intensive care at the district level.”
With this additional financing, the World Bank’s support to the project now stands at $600 million. In addition, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is sanctioning $100 million more for this project.
This additional financing for Bangladesh is one of three projects in a first phase of support for the Covid-19 vaccination effort across the South Asia region.
